J. James Wheeling

Earl of Sandwich Here’s the straight skinny on the naming of the Sandwich Islands. Captain James Cook named them after the Earl of Sandwich when he “discovered” them in 1778 while on his third (and final) exploratory voyage searching for the mythical Northwest Passage on behalf of Great Britain. The Polynesian people living there referred to the islands as, “Hawaii” as the accepted name for their home. Gradually, the name Sandwich Islands faded from usage, but it was still in use by Americans...

Whaling has a certain romantic lore in American culture. Much like the mountain men, whalers were taking advantage of a seemingly prolific natural resource and making vast fortunes from it. In the 21 st  century, we can look back on both industries with scorn, knowing how close the beavers and whales were pushed to extinction by human greed.  While creating my stories, I have found the examination of what happened as it relates to what we know now so very interesting. And here is the question...

As I was planning this blog last summer, the western United States was, once again, aflame with wildfires. Wildfires are one thing, but fires within cities carry their own kind of devastation. All major cities have had devastating fires started many ways. In the context of my stories, the cities of St. Louis and San Francisco experienced fires that wiped out whole business districts as well as homes.  I’ll start with St. Louis. This fire began on May 17, 1849, on a steamboat named “White...